A shepherd school in Tuscany is teaching skills like herding, cheesemaking and business management. Six out of eight students are women. The program is reviving tradition and creating new opportunities for women in the countryside.
00:00At first, it wasn't easy for the herdsman to accept that a woman wanted to learn this profession.
00:10Fifteen years ago, Gabriella Michalozzi changed her life and became a shepherdess.
00:17Back then, she was a pioneer in Italy.
00:20Before that, she'd lost her job at a call centre.
00:23She and other striking workers occupied the company's premises for six months, to no avail.
00:28By the end, they were living from home-grown food, like her grandparents once farmed.
00:33That marked a turning point for her.
00:37My sister and I said to ourselves,
00:40if our grandparents could live a dignified life on a farm with a few animals,
00:45then we should also be able to make something edible out of the earth, and a few hens.
00:50So that's how our adventures in agriculture began.
00:55She started by bringing her family's farm, an hour's drive from Florence, back to life.
01:00The fields were overgrown. It was hard work.
01:08With a herder, Gabriella Michalozzi exchanged her first five goats for a few large bottles of wine.
01:14Then, as her herd grew, she traded forty goats for twenty sheep.
01:18Still, at first, her male colleagues weren't eager to pass on any valuable tips.
01:25These men couldn't believe that I actually wanted to work as a shepherd.
01:31I asked them if there was anyone who could teach me this profession or could help me.
01:38But no one wanted to.
01:40Only after a few years did that change.
01:44Today, I'm known all over as Gabriella, the shepherdess.
01:48Meanwhile, more and more Italian women want to follow in her footsteps.
01:54To make it easier for the next generation, a shepherd school opened three years ago in Tuscany.
02:00Caterina Blasi has just enrolled there.
02:03It was founded by the Foresti Cassantinesi National Park.
02:07What I like about this work is that I can live far removed from civilisation, which is growing ever more hectic.
02:16I can just sit under a tree and watch the sheep or dogs and really get back to nature.
02:22I've always believed that you need to do what you love without fear of being judged by others.
02:28Caterina is 30. She studied wildlife sciences and has long been tracking the return of wolves and their growing population's effect on sheep herds in Europe.
02:41During this time, she's gotten to know and love the shepherd's life.
02:46Currently, six women and two men are training to be shepherds here.
02:50Over the coming months, they'll study biology, grazing management, animal husbandry and agribusiness management.
02:57The students have the support of the Foresti Cassantinesi National Park's president, Claudia Mazzoli.
03:04You're setting off on a path that is very important to us,
03:09because being a shepherd means safeguarding our landscape, our habitat, that's at risk of disappearing.
03:16She stresses that creating jobs for young people here is just as vital.
03:24A generational change is very important for us, because the mountain villages of the Apennines are suffering from strong-out migration and the population is aging.
03:35That makes us fear for the future.
03:39On the shepherd's school's schedule today, cheesemaking.
03:50This here is fresh sheep's milk, to which we've added cultures.
03:54To make this kind of cheese, it's good to use a little room that's kept at a constant temperature of 20 degrees Celsius,
04:00because the milk stands here, which is now curdling, as well as the freshly made cheese.
04:07The school ensures that its graduates learn the skills they'll need to live from their dream job.
04:13Experienced shepherdess Gabriella also has some good advice for the new recruits.
04:19If you're prepared to love the land and the animals, and don't see living such a life as making a sacrifice,
04:30on the contrary, it makes you happy, then this is the right profession for you.
04:37Gabriella will soon have lots of budding shepherds and shepherdesses by her side.
04:44Unlike those men when she was starting out, she's happy to help these young people learn the ropes.
04:51How you doing that?
04:53How you doing that?
04:55How my skills have freedom?
05:08How terrible they've needed to drive things inaja-like phase.
05:12scheeps on them, as well as the way, means sex.
